New Puppy Lola!

Well, it took me a year, but I finally finished the Harry Potter scarves. My nephews were quite patient, waiting silently – only asking once or twice. But this xmas, they got their scarves. Each scarf has 19 stripes. Each stripe has 22 rows. and each row has 70 stitches. All knit on size 5 needles. and then there are 11 tassels on each end. And their initials sewn in so that each boy knows which scarf belongs to which boy.

I miss you San Francisco!

I had a great time in San Francisco last week. It was sunny. I wore a sweater and no jacket. I wore high heels.

And the shopping. Sigh. The Shopping.

You know, when it comes to retail, sometimes being Canadian is like being a younger sibling locked out of your big siblings birthday party. You have your face pressed against the window and inside you see lots of grown up things going on. Cake. Ice cream. Shiny wrapping paper. and none of it is for you.
Shopping in the US is like being invited into that party and smashing yourself nose first into the cake and mashing it all into your face and loving it! I saw Macy’s! Saks Fifth Ave! Nordstroms! Bloomingdales! Victoria’s Secret! Juicy Couture! Betsey Johnson! Bath and Body Works! DSW! [and now I’ve exceeded my maximum number of exclamation points for this blog].

Of course I was there for training so the days were spent in an office building behind a computer. But at night, Kristen [my partner in Crime] and I shopped! and Shopped. And shopped.
on our last day there, we went to Alcatraz and then the Aquarium of the Bay – which were both awesome. We had crepes for breakfast and soup and a sandwich for lunch. It was a fabulous trip!

Me: Portia! I can’t believe you ate a bag of M&M’s and 30 icy squares!
Portia: Whatev’s. You left it on the counter.
Me: Don’t you learn? You were sick as a… well… dog!
Portia: I see no correlation between eating my weight in chocolate at noon and barfing chunks at 3 am. Two totally separate events.
Me: That’s another thing. You threw up in your brother’s bed!
Portia: Whatev’s. It’s not like he was in it at the time.
Me: So not the point, missy.
Portia: Is this going to take long? I have to go out. I ate an entire loaf of bread this afternoon.
Me: Gasp! Sputter! What?
Portia: It was in the Portia zone. I assumed you wanted me to have it.
Me: Bad dog! Very bad dog!
Portia [looking around]: are you talking to me?

This one time, at band camp…….
My sister teaches Grade 2. She has likened her job to crowd control at a large, public event. Although her job and my job rarely have anything in common, after last month’s [painfully long, drawn out, not relevant, I-think-I’m-bleeding-from-the-ears-] meeting, I have decided to take a few notes from my sister and hopefully apply them to the next meeting. Before anyone speaks up, they should try to go through the following checklist, which my sister uses for her 8 year olds:

1. Does what you have to say have to do with what we are talking about? If yes, go to the next question. If no, put your hand down and put your listening face back on.

2. Is it a tattle? If no, go to the next question. If yes, I do not listen to tattles.

3. Is a question or a comment? Remember! Questions are: Who, What, Why, When, Where and How? and I know the difference between a question and a comment. So no fooling! If it’s a question, proceed to the next item on the list. If not, I’m sure it’s very interesting but if we all shared a personal story, we wouldn’t get anything done!

4. Has someone else already asked it? Has it already been answered? Several times? Were you paying attention? Had your listening face on? Are you sure?

I think if we follow the above 4 questions, we can cut next meeting time down from 1.5 hrs to 15 minutes. True Story.

The Naked Man in the Room

I really don’t understand most art. If I look at something and I think it’s pretty, then I like it. If I look at something and I think it’s ugly, then I don’t. Honestly, I think all Monet paintings look like they got rained on. And don’t even get me started on sculptures made from trash.

A few months ago, Chantal offered me a free ticket to One Yellow Rabbit’s anniversary at the Jubilee. I figured, hey, why not?

Five minutes after the show started, I was watching a naked man wearing only a pair of red rubber gloves dunk his head into a bucket of water and then yell I AM THE WHALER!!

My eyes darted right and left as I tried to figure this out by surveying the reactions of the people around me: was this supposed to be serious? funny? avant garde?

Everyone started joining in, yelling with him I AM THE WHALER.

I really wasn’t sure what to do. I kind of wished I brought my knitting.

Last night, I was pinch hitting for Chantal’s band as a back up singer at an artsy person’s birthday and suddenly, there he was! NAKED WHALER Guy. I’m sure he has a name. in fact, I’m pretty sure he’s well respected and revered in the art community, as he is one of the founding members of One Yellow Rabbit. but to me, he will always be Naked Whaler Guy.

Somehow I doubt that was the impression he was going for.

Brand New Fave
Seriously. I had no idea. The other day, I had some time to kill so I went into Marks Work Wearhouse just to take a peak. And now, i’m addicted! I got four shirts for under 90 bux. I got TWO pairs of pj pants for under 25. I got a skirt, in a SIZE TEN.

I thought they only sold jeans and work boots. I really did. But they had turtlenecks, scoop neck tees, long sleeve tees, skirts, pants. Did I mention the pants all have booty shapers built in and tummy control? and everything is save for the dryer? True story. and it’s all REASONALBY priced.

I’m not going to shop anywhere else. I’m really not.

Ready to Kick some A$$ again!
I took Friday off of bootcamp. In light of my whole Hitting a Wall mental state, I just didn’t wanna go. In an act of true friendship, Donna mathematically calculated what percentage of total bootcamps I was missing if I cut out on Friday. Sniff. I was so proud of her! She knows I can’t turn my back on a mathematical argument! [FYI, I’ve only missed 4% of bootcamps = 2 classes].

So instead, I came home, walked the puppies, went to the home depot, picked up some paint for my nook, stopped off at the Bucks for some coffee beans and had an early night. I woke up yesterday morning and started painting my nook. I didn’t think about going for a run. I didn’t think about doing an exercise video. The treadmil never crossed my mind. I thought about painting and how much I liked the new color. And then I went to wall Mart. And then I painted some more. And then I had a 4 hour nap. And then I had a really lazy, long shower. And then I met Jenn M at Nectar, where I deliriously enjoyed a lemon tart with raspberries on top with a black currant tea.

This morning, after feeding the puppies, I went back to bed and slept in till noon. I did some more painting, and picked up some groceries. I cleaned my bathroom. I made up the guest room. I had another indulgent, drawn out hot shower. I put nice smelling cream on my feet. and now I’m chillin out [yes I said it, I’m chillin out!] waiting for True Blood to start at 9pm.

And i feel ready to go back to Bootcamp tomorrow and kick some A$$!

Hitting the Wall

Yup. I’ve hit the wall. Maybe not THE wall, but A wall. Definitely some kind of wall-ish object. I’m tired before I even get to bootcamp, and when I get there, I’m even more so. I push myself, but my heart just isn’t in it. At least not these past couple of weeks. and when you’re heart’s not in it, it’s tough to get up those stairs/hills/park benches. Last Friday was the first time I really felt it. We were doing hills. We go up, we go down. The idea is you “rest” while you are running downhill. but you are still running. and on my fourth time up the hill, Michelle, my trainer, was chasing me, telling me to keep going, go harder, faster, more! and suddenly, I just stopped.

Thunk.

Plain old stopped. She said I could catch my breath and as I stood there gasping I said, “What I really want is to cry. I’m TIRED.”

She nodded sympathetically. Said maybe that’s what I needed. But I still had to run up that hill. And I did. three more times.

Yesterday, it was full body workout. Up and over the park benches, tricep dips, pushups, run, sprint, jump, burpees. And all I could think was, “Stop. Just stop.” But I kept going.
Today, was stairs. and as I run, I’m getting out of breath faster and it takes longer to get it back. Four times up and down the stairs, then twice running out to the ridge and back. And then up and down again. I go up, I go down.

Three months of bootcamp has caught up to my psyche. I never thought of myself as an athlete. I started feeling like an athlete, but now I’m having second thoughts. Intellectually, I know I’m in a lot better shape. Prolly more so than I have ever been. Yet the scale has not budged. And that weighs on me. No pun intended.

I tell myself, that if I can just push through 4 more bootcamps, I get a whole week off until the next session. Four more bootcamps. Four more hours. It doesn’t sound so bad when you say it like that, but when you’re on the third of four sets of stairs, and you’re gasping for air, or sucking wind as we call it….. sigh.

4 more!

We Did It!
Jenge and I promised ourselves a few years ago that we would run the CIBC run for the Cure. But every year when it came around, we were still walking. Last year, I didn’t even go, I was too dissapointed in myself for not being able to run it.

But this year was the year! Going to bootcamp 3 times a week since June put us in good cardiovascular shape. Jenge was even sick today, all stuffed up, sinus-y and headache-y and she still ran the whole thing!

We met up with fellow Bootcampers Natalie, Rhonda and Trina, and we all ran the entire 5km. We had great weather for it, cool, but sunny.

As always, the run for the cure is a great event. It’s so heartwarming to see all the survivors in their pink shirts, and all the family and friends of people touched by cancer out to support their loved ones. People who live in the neighboorhood come out on their steps to watch us run by, some even decorate their lawn. And there are tons of volunteers handing out water or cheering you on during the race, and handing out apples and bagels at the end.

We didn’t bring the puppies as we really wanted to focus on running, but because of all the bootcamps I’ve done, I still had enough energy when I came home to take the puppies for a 4k walk AND go out and get groceries!